I'm hearing very positive reports from Deadhead friends on the Fulltone OCD. A sleeper might be the simple, versatile ProCo Rat. Most people think of the Rat as a fizzy fuzz-monster (which it certainly can cover) BUT with the volume dimed and the distortion set to just above unity, it's a surprisingly smooth and musical pedal. But from everything I'm hearing about the Earth Drive, were I starting from scratch, I think I'd have to begin there.

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My vote goes to the Earth Drive. 100%. To my ear, the Dist + has some awesome mojo, but it's (mine at least) a fussy thing to get it just right.

The Earth Drive (and this is where the description get's non-linear) is quite musical & multi-dimensional in a wide variety of settings. Since my usual gig is with a group that plays about 30% GD, it's fantastically fun to switch that middle Dimarzio Super 2 into HB mode, and click on the ED. Now we're near to the Neil Young Tweed Deluxe sound. Back to single coil with the ED, and I'm in the Hell in a Bucket zone.

Caveat: I'm fairly new to the whole electric toy box. I just new I liked the tone of the MXR, and was facinated by the Earth Drive.

I, too, have the Dist + and the Earth Drive. Dist + is great, but the Earth Drive is probably my favorite pedal, period. I haven't really found a setting yet at which it doesn't sound good. Just an incredible sounding OD pedal. I plugged in my friend's EHX OD pedal and was really surprised that it sounded just... kinda bad compared to the Earth Drive. I've gotten spoiled. Sounds just like a blackface Twin to me. Go with the Earth Drive since Brad's not a corporation -- he's a person. And supporting craftsmen is pretty fucking great IMO.

Many pedals dabble in generating overdrive harmonics via symmetrical or asymmetrical clipping. When Jerry used tube power amps back in the '60s and early '70s, they were mostly McIntosh tube amps, and maybe early on they were actually the Fender power amp sections. Either way, these were all "push/pull" class A/B amplifiers that clipped "symmetrically" and incorporated plenty of "negative feedback". These amps were also fed fairly full bandwidth audio signal from the guitar preamp section, so the overdrive contained that information.

We designed the Earth Drive to operate along these same lines. Unlike the Tubescreamer or similar pedals that dump all the highs and lows, we preserve a lot more of the bandwidth, more fullness in mid-bass and more high end extension for that natural "transparency". Then we generate our clipping symmetrically like a McIntosh or Fender Twin power section to create the right balance and proportion of even and odd order harmonics. There's nothing like cranking and clipping a power amp, but the Earth Drive most definitely had late '60s and early '70s Jerry tones in mind. I find a lot of Jerry-tone players that are using very clean solid-state loud rigs that do a great late'70s and '80s tone, but don't really get a good Europe 72 or earlier. The Earth Drive is very much an attempt to make those early tones more accessible to a player with a loud, clean Jerry rig. I can't say it's the same sound as a Twin preamp into a Mc275 or Mc3500 tube McIntosh, but it's a practical solution.

Yes he used a stratoblaster to boost signal and get more drive, but I don't believe that it was the source of dirt in and of itself, but instead it helped him drive the whole rig louder and he was still getting power tube distortion as his primary grit, just cranking it all up and clipping his tube Mac's. Yes/no?

Regarding using the Earth Drive before an M13, sure that would be fine if wanting it to act as a "pedal". But if you want to use it subtly, more like an amp, you may want to consider placing it after the M13. After all, an overdriven amplifier generates its dirt "after" the effects. This is how Mattson uses his in DSO. It's on top of his rack, right before the input to his preamp. Just barely, barely dirty.

But again, the ideal approach is always gonna be to find a power amp of the exact right loudness/power for your stage demands, and drive the shit out of that amp. That's where the magic is, driving a power amp. But for those with too much available power for some settings, this is where a pedal comes in handy.

SarnoMusicSolutions wrote:Yes he used a stratoblaster to boost signal and get more drive, but I don't believe that it was the source of dirt in and of itself, but instead it helped him drive the whole rig louder and he was still getting power tube distortion as his primary grit, just cranking it all up and clipping his tube Mac's. Yes/no?